Fleeing homophobia : asylum claims related to sexual orientation and gender identity in Europe

S. Jansen, T. Spijkerboor

Thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex (LGBTI) asylum seekers apply for international protection in Europe each year. The European Union and European States have already taken some concrete and positive steps, such as recognising sexual orientation as a persecution ground in Article 10 of the Qualification Directive. Some Member States have also explicitly added gender identity as a persecution ground in their national legislation (Portugal, Spain) or policy documents (Austria, the United Kingdom). This report, however, shows that there are considerable differences in the way in which European States examine LGBTI asylum applications. As Europe aims at creating a Common European Asylum System with a uniform status, this is highly problematic. The Dublin system, according to which only one EU Member State examines an asylum application, presumes an illusory common standard in the application of refugee law which is sadly lacking. To counter these differences in asylum application treatment, the European Asylum Support Office should give priority to promoting and coordinating the identification and pooling of good practices regarding the examination of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex asylum applications.